


Fraction, Division

by thesleepingsatellite



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: BAMF Tamika, Bloodstone Circle, Episode: e039 The Woman from Italy, Gen, Rebellion, War, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-21 16:58:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1557611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesleepingsatellite/pseuds/thesleepingsatellite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a tale of friendship, drum beats and bloodstones: Tamika Flynn leads an assault on Ralph's in an attempt to draw the attention of the Smiling God.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fraction, Division

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesertScribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertScribe/gifts).



> Title taken from Angel Haze's "Werkin' Girls". Beta read by [the-graveyard-girl](http://the-graveyard-girl.tumblr.com/). Thank you kindly!

Tamika could hear the excited chatter of her comrades before she laid eyes on them as she strode down the rough-hewn stone corridor toward the large cavern they had adopted as a meeting room. The whoops and laughter of her friends spilled from the archway, which glowed with the light of their camp lanterns. 

Tamika paused before entering, taking a minute to prepare herself. Isobel peeked around the entry way, and met her with a shy grin. 

"Everyone's ready for you," Isobel said. 

Tamika returned her smile, the expression blooming on her face. These last few months in the caves near the Sand Wastes had been difficult for them all. They were living a life on the run, hiding from the almost omniscient view of Strexcorp. They had experienced food shortages, had to endure the ranting of the Strexcorp helicopter pilots they had captured, suffered through a withdrawal from pop culture – the One Direction fans experiencing the most keenly – and they lived in constant fear of encountering Telly the Barber, who now existed as a wraith, damned to wander the Sand Wastes forever. Despite the hardship, horror and lack of good reading material, Tamika was glad to be here. Not only was she making a difference - she was going to liberate Night Vale! - but she had gained some valuable friends as a result.

"Thanks," Tamika said, giving Isobel's hand a quick squeeze. "How are you feeling about today?"

Isobel's face blanched, and for a moment she looked like she was going to throw up. "I'm not sure about the knives, Tamika. Can't we just use blood from a steak or something? I mean, they have them there at the store," she continued, her voice becoming small. "And that's what we used to do at home."

Tamika shook her head. "I wish we could, but you know, the spell is so much stronger when we use human blood. The circle has to be better than the kind you made at home."

Isobel nodded, looking at the ground as she scuffed at it with her foot. "Yeah, I know," she replied. "I just hate blood is all."

Tamika felt a surge of sympathy for her friend. She moved toward Isobel, to take both of Isobel’s hands in hers. "Hey," she said gently, waiting for Isobel to meet her eyes before continuing. "I know it's scary. And I’m not gonna lie, it’s probably gonna hurt. But it'll just be for a minute, I promise. Just do it quick, like we talked about. Then we can come back here and spend the rest of the evening watching that meteor shower, okay?"

"'Kay," Isobel replied, her eyes looking watery. Tamika knew that one of the things Isobel loved about living in the Sand Wastes was the perfection of the clear night sky, the pinpricks of the stars free from light pollution and clearly visible.

"Ready?" Tamika asked.

Isobel nodded, and they turned to walk into the cavern together. A hush descended upon the room as the gathered crowd noticed her presence. She let go of Isobel's hand with a smile, and made her way to the soapbox that served as her podium. Stepping onto the box, she looked at the faces of the ragtag band of kids sitting cross-legged in front of her, their faces turned upward in rapt expectation. 

Once again, she was awed and humbled by the trust and belief that her friends put in her. Sometimes, when she laid in her sleeping bag, staring at the ceiling of the cave that she used as her bedroom, she wondered if she was the right person to lead this group, or even if they should be having this rebellion at all. Tamika occasionally feared her comrades saw what they did as nothing but a game, like an extended version of hide-and-seek or capture the flag. Despite her best efforts to impress upon them the fact that Strexcorp was evil and wanted to of the and all of Night Vale harm, there were those among her group who, unlike Isobel, failed to grasp the gravity of the situation. Most days, she tried to ignore the prickling of her conscience when it came to involving these girls in the war – as much as she hated taking advantage of their disillusionment, her army needed all the bodies it could get.

"Alright people," she began. "Operation Fraction Division is a go. We're going to do this like we discussed last night. Group A," she said, gesturing to a cluster of six pre-teens clad in camouflage gear, "will attempt to penetrate the Psychological Association compound using the strike plan code named _Persuasion_. Sophia will be in command." She nodded toward the slight, blonde fourteen-year-old sitting at the center of the group, and Sophia returned the gesture, giving her a thumbs up.

"Remember, Group A, radio silence until your mission is complete. You won't be able to contact us, but rest assured that we will be doing everything in our power to keep all eyes off you. Once you've obtained the artifact, get back here as fast as possible, and hand it over to Old Woman Josie for examination"

"Yes, sir,” Sophia replied with a salute.

"Group B, you're with me," she said, looking at the group of 12 girls to her left, smiling as she laid eyes upon them. Izzy was among them, sitting cross-legged and looking toward Tamika with widened eyes. "As we discussed, our job is two-fold. Distract and sabotage. The more noise we make the better. You were all hand-picked for this job." she said, unable to stop herself from quirking her lips up in a grin. Her strike group included class clowns, vocal students, and the middle school drum captain. "You are the best at what you do. I've sat through temporal geography classes with a number of you, and I know you can be loud. Put your gifts to good work, people!"

A small dark-haired girl from Group B raised her hand, looking timid.

"Go ahead, Kelly," Tamika said gently.

"Can we bring some of the stuff from Ralph's back with us?" she asked, her voice hopeful.

Tamika pressed her lips together and shook her head. "That's a negative. We can't take any chances after the transdimensional orange incident. Which brings me to another point." She paused, and when she spoke again her voice was solemn, attempting to mimic the sonorous tones of the Voice of Night Vale. "The Night Vale that is now is not the Night Vale that was. The winds no longer whisper in the forest, and the Smiling Entity creeps ever closer. We must be vigilant. We must be the force that rises up to protect the living soul of Night Vale. We must fight!" 

Her voice ended on a triumphant yell, and at her words, the cavern erupted into a cacophony of cheers and clapping. She smiled and cast her eyes over her group, her brave soldiers, determined to remember all their faces in the event that one of their number did not return. It had happened before, and no one knew what had become of their fallen comrades. They had never been seen again. Tamika held on to hope that they were still alive, though the dark of night found her confessing to herself that if captured she would rather die.

Climbing down from her podium, she was met by smiles and the warm press of hands as her friends squeezed her arms reassuringly. She approached Sophia and threw her arms around the taller girl for one last hug.

"I've got your back," Tamika said, her voice firm and confident.

Sophia nodded and grinned down at her. "I know. I won't let you down, sir. Good luck."

"To you as well, soldier,” Tamika said, giving her one last hug.

Tamika turned to her own group, and stood in front of them, hands on her hips. 

"Alright," she said. "Let's head out to the jump station." Then, she turned to lead them from the room. They made their way through the dark and dusty corridors, the sound of their footsteps mingling with the whistle of the wind through the cave system. Eventually, the dark tunnel gave way and they emerged into the bright sunlight of the Sand Wastes.

"Okay, everyone,” Tamika said, shading her eyes with one hand as she looked at her group. They stood before her with straight backs, their hands by their sides and their heads held high as if they were real soldiers. Perhaps that is what they had all become during the past few months in the desert. "Let's do one last inventory check before we leave. Backpacks?"

"Check!" They replied in unison. Tamika dropped her Princess Bubblegum backpack to the ground. If she had had her choice of bags, she would have one that was more mature looking, befitting her position as the de facto leader of the resistance. Despite its silliness, she used continued to use the bright pink bag anyway. It was one of the last presents her parents gave to her, and anyway, it was bright enough to attract the kind of attention that she wanted today. 

"Bloodstones?" Tamika said, her librarian-head pendant swaying in the breeze as she reached down to open her backpack. Inside, tucked beside her copy of Sun Tzu's _The Art of War_ , was her bloodstone. She put her hand into the bag and rested it upon the warm, pitted surface of the rock, feeling it throb gently under her touch.

"Check!" The group replied.

"Liquid cement?"

"Check!"

"Knives?"

"Check!"

"Clover and Janice, you got your drums?"

"Yes sir!" They said as one.

“Let’s move out, “ Tamika said, hoisting her backpack onto her shoulder. "Backpacks on. Group B will be leaving in five minutes, so we have to have our diversion underway by then."

"Sure thing, boss,” Clarissa said as the group clustered around her. 

Tamika reached into her pocket and took out her Einstein-Rosen Bridge generator. It was black and shiny, rectangular and about the size of a cell phone. Other than a blue light that blinked in the center of its front panel, it was completely featureless. Tamika had no idea how it worked, even less of an idea about what really did. Old Woman Josie had given it to her, saying that it was a gift from the Angels and that it would take her anywhere she wanted to go, just like Dorothy Gale's ruby slippers. All she had to do was make a wish and touch the blue light.

The first time that Tamika had tried to use it, she'd pictured Disney World's castle in her mind's eye. She had put the tip of her index finger to the blue light on the front panel, and felt a tug in her belly button followed by a great whooshing sound in her ears as the world went dark. A split second later, she found herself bathed in Florida sunlight, staring up at Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom. She had let loose a great whoop, and went running toward it, her arms outstretched. The thrill of visiting Disney World had worn off as she watched all the happy families cavorting in the Florida sunshine. She missed her parents terribly. She hadn't seen much of them since she'd been in the Sand Wastes, and when she did run into them in town, they didn't seem like themselves at all. 

As she had experimented with the ER Bridge generator, she learned that it had limitations. It would only take her to places that she had been, or places that she could clearly visualize. She could use it to move around Night Vale and the surrounding desert, because she'd lived her whole life there, but she could travel to very few other places. Disney World had been a no-brainer because she and her parents had been planning a trip there until the Strexcorp advisors at their offices had informed them both that vacation was prohibited due to its negative impact on productivity. Shortly thereafter, her parents had broken the news about Disney World with an expression on their faces that Tamika had come to think of as their Strexcorp zombie faces, their smiles strangely stretched across their cheeks. Tamika had left home that same night.

Tamika had also learned that she could take people with her, if they were touching the device or her, and that proved particularly useful in planning her guerilla group's excursions. This had come as a surprise when she and Izzy suddenly found themselves sitting in a booth at Big Rico's Pizza instead of propped up against the wall of the main cavern as they examined the device. “I could really go for a pizza,” Tamika had said, and suddenly, there they were.

Never before had she used it to move a group this large before, and she was nervous, unsure if it was going to work and worried that someone would disappear or get left behind. She steeled herself, putting her fear aside. Thirteen people were required for this ritual, so twelve would be travelling with her.

Her friends clustered around her. Janice looked at her nervously as she put her fingertips on the black device. Jada's fingers curled around her wrist. Isobel put a hand to her shoulder, and Jenna, the tallest of the group by far, leaned her chin on top of Tamika’s head. Tamika rolled her eyes. She hated being reminded that at she wasn’t very tall.

When they all connected to her, she pictured the front of Ralph's, with its red sign against the beige stucco, and squeezed her eyes shut as she pressed the blue button. She felt a yank through her belly button and heard a discordant howl in her ears. The noise ceased as suddenly as it had started, and Tamika opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by her friends on the sidewalk of Somerset Road. She watched as a little old lady pulled a shopping cart out of its storage area and approached the automatic doors, which opened before her allowing elevator music to spill out of the store to mingle with the noise of the cars on the city streets.

She turned quickly, and did a quick headcount of her group, breathing a sigh of relief when the number totaled to twelve.

"Clover and Janice," Tamika commanded. "Drums out!"

"Yes sir," Clover replied as she and Janice moved quickly to get their drums out of their backpacks. 

"Alright, people, I'll lead the way. Clover and Janice behind me and the rest of you follow, just like we practiced, on ONE, TWO, THREE!"

Tamika marched forward, her head held high. Behind her the drumbeat started, and she let her feet fall in time with the beat before calling out in a loud tone, "We are the beating heart!"

"We are the beating heart!" The group called back in unison her as they marched forward. The automatic doors to the grocery store opened with a _whoosh_ , and they were bathed in its conditioned air and flourescent lighting.

"We are the breathing lungs!" Tamika yelled, watching as the heads of the customers in the checkout line snapped around to look at her. She let her gaze linger upon a cashier and her breath caught as she saw the cashier's lips stretch into a grotesque grin.

She averted her eyes and continued, yelling, "We are the breathing lungs!"

"WE ARE THE BREATHING LUNGS!" Her group yelled in response. 

She led them to the beat of the drum toward the frozen wasteland of the freezer section. "We are the lips that chant!"

"WE ARE THE BREATHING LUNGS!" 

"Again!" She yelled, as they marched past bakery with its warm and inviting scents. Tamika swallowed when the clerk behind the bakery counter turned toward her, his eyes as round as dinner plates and his tongue lolling pink and thick from behind the slabs of his white teeth. They marched through the pharmacy, Tamika's voice ringing as she repeated her proclamations, her army replying as a single voice behind her. She did not dare look toward the pharmacist, fearing the horror that sat behind the white counter.

At last they reached the produce section, awash with fruit and vegetables in all the colours of the rainbow. Tamika's mouth watered at the sight. Her army had been subsisting on canned food, and it had been so long since she'd bitten into a nice, crisp apple. She knew that she could not risk any traps that may be embedded in the produce, and so she marched past the beautiful leafy greens and vibrantly coloured peppers to the citrus fruit section, where, considering the exceptionally large variety of oranges available, there was just enough room for her purposes.

"Halt!" She shouted, before dropping her backpack to retrieve the box of table salt that she had stashed in the front pocket. "Bloodstones and liquid cement out!", She called as she pried open the box of salt and began pouring it onto the floor. As her friends worked to get their bloodstones out of their back packs, she moved quickly to outline a large circle on the floor with the salt, her sneakered feet moving silently over the linoleum. She kept her eyes glued to the floor as she worked, determined to make the outline neat and even. Over the elevator music that permeated the store, she was sure she could hear the low sound of growling. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and she fought the impulse to run away from this place that was so clearly infested by the insidious horror of Strexcorp. 

Breathing quickly, she finished her circle, connecting stream of salt to its starting point. She looked up at her group and yelled, "Places everyone!" Within seconds, each member of her group moved to their assigned point on the circle's circumference, bloodstones in hand. Tamika bent to retrieve her bloodstone and cement from her bag, and then took her place at the circle. Her heart beating hard within her chest, she uncapped her liquid cement and squeezed it onto the base of the bloodstone before affixing it to the floor at the 12:00 position of the salt circle.

She tapped her foot on the ground impatiently as her friends glued their stones to the floor, and steeled herself before allowing her gaze to travel over the produce department. There were no horribly grinning Strex zombies yet, no lolling tongues or Chiclet teeth, just onlookers who watched with confused expressions, some shrinking away in fear. Since the invasion of the town by Strexcorp, the use of Bloodstone circles had been forbidden under penalty of imprisonment in the abandoned mines. Very few among those of Night Vale’s population who were uncorrupted by the touch of Strex were brave enough to risk any form of rebellion, even one as elemental as a bloodstone circle.

_Cowards_ , Tamika thought, before shouting, "Knives out!" Tamika retrieved her own knife from her pocket, stretching her other hand out, open and palm up, above her bloodstone. She waited, her knife poised over the meaty part of her palm, for the others to be ready. 

She heard a whimper to her right, and turned to see Isobel staring at her knife with something akin to horror, her hand clenched into a reluctant fist over her bloodstone instead of open and willing. Isobel looked up at her then, her hazel eyes wide with panic. 

"It'll be okay,” Tamika reassured her, her voice soft. "Take a deep breath." Tamika watched as Isobel's eyelids fluttered closed and her chest rose and fell as she did as instructed. "Pain is momentary,” Tamika said, watching as Isobel's hand slowly relaxed and opened for the knife. 

"We can do this!" Tamika continued a louder voice, addressing all of her friends assembled around the circle. "We are the hands that bleed! Now!" 

Tamika drew the blade across the skin of her palm, and the pain was sharp and sudden as her skin split at the pass of the blade. Cries and hisses of pain from her militia were heard, mingling with the growling noise, as they cut at their hands. Tamika hesitated a glance to the left and saw Isobel looking pale yet determined, blood welling up in her palm, bright red against her pale skin. Tamika glanced around at the rest of her group to see Clover stoic and calm, and Janice looking strangely entranced by the flood of blood between her fingers. 

"The hard part's over," she called. "On the stones, on my mark! One!"

Tamika glanced down to see that her bloodstone was shining with a dull red light that emanated from deep within its core. Tamika thought it looked hungry, as if it knew that it would soon be given the blood it craved.

"Two!"

Tamika looked up to see that each bloodstone in the group was glowing now, the light pulsing as a single entity.

"Three! Give the stones your blood!" 

Tamika slapped her hand down against her stone, and felt an electric shock travel from the palm of her hand, up her arm and into her chest. Her heart beat faster, and she could feel it thudding powerfully in her chest. The blood on her hand quickly dissipated, absorbed the stone's rough pitted surface, and she could feel the pulsing increase in frequency as it pulled blood out of her body with each beat of her heart. A low humming oscillating noise filled the air, the ebbs and flows of the sound moving in synchronization with the stone's pulsing. The sound filled her ears, drowning out the distressed and worried noises of the onlookers that had gathered around the stone circle.

She could still hear the growling above it all.

When the sound of the stones reached a fever pitch, Tamika ground her teeth together as she prepared to rip her hand away. She felt a painful tearing sensation as her hand became unstuck, and then raised both hands, one bloodied and one pristine toward the ceiling to proclaim, "We are the mind that believes! We are the heart that beats! We are the hands that bleed! By the power of the city council I anoint and activate you!"

The sound vanished and in its placed was left a vacuum of silence. Tamika looked around the circle to see each of the stones glowing a bright and vibrant blood red, the light from within each pulsating as if each contained a beating heart. She felt a tremendous amount of satisfaction, and looked around the circle at her bloodied and tired friends. They had done it, they had erected a bloodstone circle so powerful that even the might of Strexcorp would not be able to take it down.

"Little girls,” a smooth voice said. The voice had a hypnotic and polished feeling to it, it was the kind of voice that made Tamika want to listen, to hear what the bearer had to say. It was a voice of ill will, a voice of condescension, a voice designed to encourage _productivity_. Despite herself, Tamika looked toward the source of the voice and a spike of panic shot through her when she laid eyes on the store manager standing twenty feet away by the enormous display of potatoes. His grin was stretched so wide that the corners of his mouth appeared to touch his ears, and from behind his great, white teeth his tongue lolled, thick and grey within the confines of his mouth like a slug. 

"We would like to talk to you," the voice continued, and though it was coming from the store manager, his mouth did not appear to move at all. Behind him, the store clerks and cashiers assembled, each face distorted into a display of aggressive pleasure. "Please, do come with us now!" 

Tamika shook her head, forcing herself to tear her attention away from the Strex Zombies. "Don’t look at them," Tamika yelled, motioning to her group as she removed the ER Bridge generator from her pocket. " Quick! Into the circle! They can't get us here!"

Tamika jumped into the circle, careful not to disrupt the salt outline. "Let's get out of here," she said, trying not to let her voice shake as the store manager bounded towards the circle like a hyena, leaping over banana stands and dodging around shopping carts. Tamika took the Janice's hand in hers as the rest of her group reached to place a hand on her shoulders, her arms and her back. 

"Hurry,” Janice said as she trembled beside her.

The pack of Ralph's workers reached the boundary of the circle, their wild eyes rolling in their eye sockets as they clawed at the air surrounding it, unable to cross the boundary. "Stop," the store manager called. "We only want to help you realize your potential!"

Tamika turned toward him, her curled lips into a snarl. "Never!" She yelled. 

Picturing their cave in the Sand Wastes, she pressed the button on the ER Bridge Generator. The sensation of being pulled by a hook through her belly button took over once more and she closed her eyes against it. When the noise and the discomfort in her stomach subsided, she opened her eyes, not to the harsh glare of flourescent lighting, but the bright, natural warmth of the mid-day sun in the Sand Wastes.

She turned to her friends, and grinned triumphantly. "We did it!" She said, her voice breathless, and she felt her heart fill with pride as her militia cheered, sending their mingled voices up into the great blue sky in celebration of their minor victory. Amidst the cheering and whoops and noises of celebration, Tamika stood back and surveyed her friends, taking a moment to count their number.

_One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven._

_Eleven._ Tamika, herself, made twelve. They had been thirteen strong when they had left the caves. Panicked, her gaze flitted amongst her friends, trying to identify the one that was lost. Her stomach churned when she realized who was missing.

Isobel had been left behind.

Tamika backed away from the group, unable to feel the triumphant joy that had coursed through her system seconds before. She watched as they made their way toward the entrance of the caves, and put her hand to her chest as if to stifle the pain that welled up there, like fresh blood from a wound.

Isobel had given her blood in service of the militia. 

Tamika raised her hands up to the sun, turned her face up towards it and closed her eyes. “You will be avenged,” she whispered, willing her vow to travel outward from her mouth to become one with the world around her. 

She stood silent and still, her heart hardening further toward Strexcorp, allowing the loss of one of her closest friends to fuel the burning fire of her anger. So many people had been lost. Her parents, her teachers at school, her favorite uncle, the family next door, her best friend from school and now Isobel. As she lowered her arms and opened her eyes to the blinding sunlight, she strengthened her resolve to free Night Vale and all its citizens. It would be a difficult journey, but if Strike Team A had been successful in their mission at the Psychological Association, her militia would be one crucial step closer to overturning Strexcorp and its hideous smiling god once and for all.

Determined, she returned to the caves to prepare to fight another day.

**Author's Note:**

> Tamika's Bloodstone Circle ritual is an adapted version of [ximmortalchildx's](http://ximmortalchildx.tumblr.com/post/57727171444/welcome-to-night-vale-spell-your-own-bloodstone).
> 
> Einstein–Rosen bridge is another term for a [Wormhole](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole).


End file.
